We cannot wait until the last
minute, as we did with the Rotem bill. Although that proposal was ultimately
defeated, the damage to Israel’s relationship with the Jewish world has left a
scar.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman,
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett
need to make it clear now that they will not allow another conversion crisis to
arise.

The heads of Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Agency and the
Jewish Federations of North America must impress this message upon these
Israeli leaders before the next committee discussions on the Stern bill.

Only if Israeli government
officials and the international Jewish leadership take a clear, unambiguous
stance on conversion will those who have been pulling the Jewish world into
conversion crises over the past 30 years understand that this time, there has
to be a different ending.

Many have asked if this saga changed my mind
about aliyah and Israel. No, but it underscores my responsibility, and that of
likeminded citizens, to work for change.

Recent controversies surrounding the
rejection of conversions by RCA rabbis like Avi Weiss and public disparagement
of moderate rabbis like David Stav and Shlomo Riskin reveal just how extremist
the institution has become.

But this extremism is priming public opinion for
the rise of an alternative system that would reflect the diversity of Israeli
citizenry and the Jewish people.

The time is ripe to support relevant NGOs, lobby
Israeli leaders and leverage the full weight of Diaspora communal resources to
break the Chief Rabbinate’s ruinous monopoly.